Their Dinner
by Ramses-Lives
Summary: One-shot set many years in the future, featuring Serena, Blair, Nate and Chuck, because I love the friendship they have with eachother. Mentions other characters as well. TV-Verse. Please R&R.


A/N: This is an idea that came to me today while I was walking around and I just had to write it. It is set somewhere 20 plus years in the future and told from Serena's viewpoint. I hope everyone enjoys and please R&R. :)

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_Their Dinner_

Serena van der Woodsen was ironically the first to arrive and thought for sure had the time wrong, otherwise she would have been greeted by Blair, who was never late. The concierge lead her to the reserved table near the back of _La Monde. _The square oak table gleamed under the fluorescent lights, and the chairs looked more suited for a living room, then a dining room, but somehow they fit, with their royal purple upholstery.

She sat and waited, accepting only water until everyone else arrived. If wine was already uncorked when Blair arrived, she was sure it would open old wounds. She looked around the restaurant at different couples and families, entranced by their seeming happiness and wondered what she looked like to them. Wondered what Dan would say.

The thought of Dan shamed her and she looked down at the table, afraid she would be caught spying suddenly. After all the years of being the star subject of page six, she wanted anonymity. She wanted peace and happiness and a baby girl she could spoil who had her smile.

But life hadn't deemed to give her those things, as she wondered from one casual relationship to another, refusing marriage in a rebellious attempt not to be like her mother. Not to need to be chained to one man with the weight of a diamond.

Ultimately that had been the kiss of death for her relationship with Dan. After seven years together, and five refused proposals, each one more romantic then the last, he left. He was doing well though, his novel based loosely on their romance, and his glimpse into what he referred to as the proper world where everything is appearances and lies, won critical acclaim and a top spot on the best seller list.

She bought the audio book and listened to it when she was lonely. Only when she was drunk she would read the acknowledgment.

_To my loving wife and playful son. You are my present and future._

Serena shook the thought off as Nate appeared, walking towards her with confidence. He now wore glasses and Armani everywhere, the quintessential business man. But his smile was still the same, one of boyish innocence. Though he handled her account, as well as the accounts of about twenty other trust funders, she hadn't even been in the same room with him for three years.

She stood up and put on the biggest smile she could, waiting until he was only two feet away to jump into a hug. She remembered the time when they had gone sight seeing their junior year of college together in Italy while on summer break. Thanksgiving they spent together in their youth. How his index finger traced every inch of her body during their one day affair, before he went back to his wife, Hazel.

It always seemed to be one day affairs with them.

"Serena, still as beautiful as ever." he says softly in her ear before pulling away and sitting down in the chair opposite of hers, after helping her into her own seat.

"Still the gentleman." she replies with a laugh.

He gives her a small smile and she is relieved that it isn't awkward between them. Things like teenage heartbreak and angry phone calls disappearing in the glow of their friendship. Serena knows now that that was what they were meant to be from the beginning and Nate does too.

After a few minutes of polite conversation, he asks the question she had been wondering in the back of her head as their waiter pours them a glass of red wine each.

"Where are Chuck and Blair?"

She replied she didn't know. It was uncharacteristic of Blair to be late, ever. And Chuck, meeting and having diner together was his idea. He had letters sent to each of them, Nate had brought his and showed Serena, both having a laugh at how Chuck could be so formal and informal all at once.

The letters were sent on the Bass Enterprise stationary, Chuck taking over the company after Bart succumb to heart problems, and stated, not asked, that the four should get together and reminisce about old times. The thought of the old thing oddly sentimental for Serena to attach to her dark haired stepbrother.

It was signed: _Charles B. Bass, President and Playboy_

Nate and Serena agreed it was very Chuck and Nate said the out of the the four of them, he had changed the least probably.

Chuck arrived next, in a dark green Valentino suit, the jacket flung on the chair closet to him as he and Nate embraced in what could only be described as a man hug. Chuck then turned and ruffled the top of her blond head affectionately, calling her sister, before sitting down.

She fixed her hair and gave him a mock glare, having long ago retired to the fact he would always call her that.

He ordered a scotch, per usual, and let his gaze linger on the last empty chair, before starting a conversation. Everything seemed so effortless with him, as the three talked about college, and business, and how Chuck had seen Little J at an art show a few days ago.

She was listening to Chuck and Nate jointly tell a story about their vacation together to Monaco last year when Blair finally arrived, forty-eight minutes late, and sat down with brief hello's to each of them, dodging Serena's hug in a way that made it seem unintentional.

Her and Blair had met up in the bathroom of an exclusive club a few months ago, and decided to forgive again after almost five years of silence. Serena forgave Blair for sabotaging her modeling career for Ralph Lauren, and Blair forgave Serena for getting wasted on wine and sleeping with her husband, making Blair the ex-Mrs. Baizen.

It had been easier in high school for them to put their fights behind them, having to see each other almost every day. But after that, long years of silence between them made even seeing each other on the street awkward. Missed phone calls and canceled dinners hung in the air between them continentally.

Blair's life took on a less predictable route then the rest of theirs. She hadn't gone into fashion, but psychology, and was working as a therapist to rich teenagers. Serena supposed she was better suited to guide the next generation then anyone else, having lived through a different version of what the young girls were probably now going through.

Blair's hair was straightened, and stopped where her chin did, but other then that she looked mostly the same in her white custom made Dior dress. Serena would never told anyone but Dan that she always felt plain next to Blair Waldorf. It was slightly comforting though that Blair still fidgeted with her hands, even while she ordered all their diner's in fluent French. And why not? She still knew and remembered what each of them wanted.

They talked about high school, all through salad to desert, sitting there as they sipped their drinks. Serena was happy that they could finally laugh about things that use to seem so serious. Nate made a joke about sex and limos. They all laughed, and for the first time Blair really looked at Chuck, who had been staring at her the entire night.

When the manager finally decided to politely kick the group out, long after everyone else had left, Serena felt sadness again. Nate said they should do this more often, before disappearing in his dark blue corvette. Serena declined Chuck's offer of the use of his limo, and hailed a taxi. As the yellow cab was pulling away, she looked back to see Blair and Chuck getting into his sleek limo, holding hands and smiling.

Serena knew even though they all had changed, some feelings never would.


End file.
